Post navigation

Saving on Your Winter Heating Bill Tips pt 2

Hi everyone! I’m back to continue talking about things I have done to save on my heating bill.

heat miser! (Photo credit: picturemommy)

4) Turn down the thermostat even further when you are going to be away from home for more than a few hours and at night/day (if you work nights) when you are sleeping.

4) Use comforters and blankets on your bed.

5) Install a programmable thermostat.

New Thermostat (Photo credit: super-structure)

Do not believe that mess when the utility company says that it costs more to get the house up to the higher temp that you set when you get home than to leave the thermostat set at 68 degrees or whatever 24/7/365. That is a bunch of BS!

Remember what I said earlier, the more you use the more you pay. Based on that, you should immediately see why they would tell you to leave your furnace set on a constant temperature all the time. Now I’m not saying shut the unit off…do NOT do that. What I am suggesting is to take it down to about 50 degrees, maybe 55 if you are in a very cold climate, to insure that your water pipes in the house don’t freeze which will cause them to burst. Then you’ll really have a problem…a very expensive one at that.

When I committed to doing this in the last 4 years I saw a difference in my heating bill. Yes, the house will be quite chilly when you get back home, so just keep your coat on if you need to ’til the house starts to warm up which may take about 30-45 minutes. This is a heck of a lot cheaper than heating an unoccupied house at the same temperature as if you were at home. Now if you just like donating money, do what I’m suggesting here, and when you see the savings, contact me and I’ll give you my PayPal info so you can send the money to me. I can assure you, I’ll put the money to good use. 🙂

The same principle applies to when you are sleeping at the end of your day. That’s why I mentioned using comforters on your bed in addition to blankets. Comforters are pretty much like a sleeping bag, just not closed in like one. If you’ve ever slept in a sleeping bag outdoors when it’s cool or cold, you’ll be surprised at how warm you are while sleeping. That’s because you are the heater inside the bag as a human’s body temperature is around 98.6 degrees.

Yeah, it’s pretty cold when you gotta get up and go to the restroom in the middle of the night, but look at it like this. You won’t completely wake yourself up ‘cuz you won’t be messing around. You’ll want to get back into that warm bed you just got out of as fast as possible. Once you get used to it, it becomes second nature. And you’ll be glad when you get your bill.

The more you use, the more you are going to pay. Yep, I tend to repeat myself as I don’t want you to forget this. 😉

As far as having to get up to start your day in a cold house, well that’s where a programmable thermostat is very helpful. For the price and the convenience, they are very inexpensive and pretty easy to install yourself. In fact I, (not my husband who was my SO at the time) installed my thermostat 12 almost 13 years ago and it still works great.

You can set the thermostat to have the furnace come on and go off at certain times of the day. The one I have you can program individual settings for all 7 days of the week. Pricewise, it was the mid range at the time but for the amount of money I have saved on my heating bill and when I was using AC, it has paid for itself many, many times over.

Finally, only heat the room you are occupying to a comfortable temperature.